US Missed ‘Golden Opportunity’ At Vietnam Summit – N.Korean Official

Choe Sun-hui, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister, has reportedly told foreign displomats that the United States threw away “a golden opportunity” at a recent summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Vietnam.

The BBC reports that the official revealed that leader Kim Jong-un may break off denuclearisation talks with the US to resume missile and nuclear testing.

North Korea had offered to dismantle its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.

But tals collapsed after Trump refused to lift sanctions unless North Korea destroyed all its nuclear sites during the summit, which deadlocked negotiations.

Choe also said Kim will make an official announcement on his position regarding future talks with the US soon.

“We have no intention to yield to the US demands in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind,” she told reporters in North Korea, Russia’s state Tass news agency reported.

The official further said that North Korea’s demand during the recent summit was for five key economic sanctions to be lifted, not all sanctions as Trump alleged after talks broke down.

“What is clear is that the US has thrown away a golden opportunity this time,” she said.

“I’m not sure why the US came out with this different description. We never asked for the removal of sanctions in their entirety.”

Trump and US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo stated after talks in February, that North Korean officials had asked for full sanctions relief.

“It was all about the sanctions. They wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that.

“Sometimes you have to walk and this was one of those times,” Trump said.

Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, said that diplomacy was “still very much alive”, though he did not say if there had been any negotiations since the summit, or outline any plans for further talks.